As part of a federally funded project, public street lights will soon have the ability to record conversations, broadcast government warnings, advertise just about anything, and possibly even x-ray bodies for concealed weapons, just like the highly controversial TSA scanners. The street light surveillance systems are fail-proofed because they are linked together through underground cables and a wireless network, so if one goes out, the rest still work in tandem.

If you thought the Patriot Act was an infringement of civil and personal rights, wait until you get a load of this. Like some strange deja vu of the Nazi concentration camps, the manufacturerIlluminating Conceptsis now installing hi-tech devices, paid for with tax dollars, which enable “big brother” to monitor, record, display, and announce just about anything he wants.

Do citizens get to vote for or against this latest disturbance of the peace? When people drive down the street with car stereos pumping music too loud, police pull them over and write tickets, but no citizen will have any say at all in what pumps out of the street speakers:including political propaganda, pharmaceutical advertisements, religious speeches, promotions for unnecessary vaccinations, and inappropriate, unrated or biased information.

The city of Farmington Hills, Michigan is the first guinea pig for the new Homeland Security light poles, which include the speaker system for emergency broadcast alerts and advertising, light sensors to record pedestrian and road traffic, and an LED video display for directional instructions.

The British are already using them as surveillance tools. The city of Middlesbrough uses the speakers to bark orders at people and reprimand them for “inappropriate behavior,” littering, or committing other minor offenses in public.

Beyond the video cameras themselves,the speakers may pose the most invasive disturbances, blaring out advertisements at people as they walk past. What about restaurants with outdoor cafes and patios which try to create cultural atmosphere of their own?

What about when natural disasters and emergencies are overrated and exaggerated, like the “horrific”hurricane Irene that evacuated millions of people from east coast cities, but ended up being just a tropical storm? Will there be loud sirens screaming at the public in the streets for days or weeks on end, creating a sense of anxiety and panic?

The United States could be on the fast track to becoming one huge police state

In fact, the Nazi Party depended heavily on speakers to get its message across. Nazi camp commanders used music to mentally break down the prisoners and rob them of their dignity and cultural identity, and to achieve ideological ends. By using the concentration camps’ loudspeaker systems, they aimed tomanipulate, intimidate, and indoctrinate.

The Jews referred to the Nazi national music, which pervaded the air by day and night, as sonic torture. The Nazis commanded Jewish prisoners to come up with “donations” to fund the construction of Dachau’s loudspeaker system in 1933.

The Nazi loudspeaker system was also regularly put into action during festivals and holidays symbolically important to the regime. Could this be the beginning of Fox News broadcasted into the streets, or pharmaceutical advertisements blared at people trying to enjoy the peace and quiet of the great outdoors?

Occupy Wall Street may not have one overall definitive message, but its major topics like surveillance street lamps are the fuel that fires up the masses. If you oppose invasions of privacy and you want to support personal rights and freedom, join a movement and write editorials so your voice will be heard.